Importance

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Abstract

A mechanism for lifting bowling balls from the pit area of a bowling alley to a ball return runway at or above the level of the bowling alley includes a ball elevator mechanism in which a bowling ball is moved upwards along a track by frictional engagement with a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is driven by two pulleys mounted on a support rod which is itself pivotal about a rolling pivot in response to an eccentric cam arrangement which moves the lower pulley away from the track in order to provide clearance for the ball, and then moves the lower pulley towards the track so that the belt securely engages the ball and moves it up the track. An oscillating paddle is driven by a spherical cam arranged on a speed reduction pulley which also drives the eccentric cam arrangement so that the paddle and elevator mechanism move in synchronism via a common drive.

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First Claim